Amiina

You can listen to the entire album Kurr by Islandic all female band Amiina at the (still highly recommended) Luisterpaal site.
Here's the band's MySpace-page.

Order the album here

Troubles

Hi, I've been delayed in my posting due to various (unforseen) circumstances : we have moved our children's bedroom, our bedroom and the "work room" in our house, there have been some computer problems and I have had to stay in hospital for a few days...
We'll be back soon however posting as usual, but there are still some things left to be worked out here at home, but I guess in August I'll be back in full swing...

Anyway, to help you through the waiting hours, here's a few songs from bands performing at Pukkelpop festival :

• It could be - Absynthe Minded (mp3)
• Be my husband - Dez Mona (with Mauro Pawlowski as gast guitarist, live at the AB, Brussels) (mp3)
• Jesus built my hot rod - Prima Donkey (Ministry cover)

They're all Belgian too !

Enjoy...

Buy their records here

Au Revoir Simone

Rain poured out of the sky tonight, but I still took my bike to see a concert at Boomtown Festival, which is part of the famous city festival Gentse Feesten in my hometown.

Three beautiful young women, surrounded by synthesizers and other electronic instruments, appeared on stage. They looked somewhat frail and you would get the impression they were just three students doing well at university, spending whatever's left of their time just singing and making music. Still I thought they had a certain sparkle, that made them stand out and that would make my radar bleep whenever they enter the room.

Au Revoir Simone , a Brooklyn based female trio, had to open this night of the festival for The Frames. I had heard some of their songs (of their new album, The Bird of Music) on the internet and I really liked the new 80's sound of their pop songs, with their voices floating on top of it, so my expectations were rather high.

They opened their set with a beautiful Sad Song, while it had stopped raining... Unfortunately, the sound with the second song was not very well balanced, so their voices were hard to hear amidst all the music their appliances produced, but sound quality improved throughout their show (which lasted about 50 minutes). They celebrated the repair of their drum machine with champagne, telling us how Belgium and Belgian geniuses had saved their tour. One of the best songs of the night was a song I think was Dark Halls (I'm not familiar enough with their material to recognize every song, but I'm quite sure of this one after relistening to it at home).

They ended their show (while rain had once more started falling out of the sky in amounts you would sooner expect at waterfalls) with two songs that had a slower tempo, one of them being The Way to There, in which you could once again enjoy the harmony of their three lovely, almost angelic voices.

Soaking wet after having showered in open air like this, I nevertheless went home feeling great, having heard a good performance by a band I hadn't heard of one month ago...

You can listen to some of their songs on their MySpace and here's a song that they offer on their website (from their debut album Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation) :

Through the backyards (mp3)

Buy their records here

Life on Mars

Jasper Steverlinck, singer of re-united Arid, and the two brothers Steven and Stijn Kolacny, who "run" the girls' choir Scala, have covered this David Bowie song :


Life on Mars (mp3)


The sober arrangement and the beautiful voice really do justice to the fine song that Bowie wrote, and it's become one of those songs you never forget once you've heard them...


Buy the record here

Rewind the video : The Kids

This Belgian punk band still rocks !

Album of the week : Damaged - Lambchop

Kurt Wagner has been making some of the most astonishingly beautiful music that I've heard over the years. This is the kind of music you may wake me up for any time, and this is the kind of music I'd love to hear being performed in a church or monastery (as Tindersticks did years ago in a small town in my country...)

Lambchop is as alt.country as you can get, and I definitely love it.

On Damaged the band brings us music that touches you to the very bone. Listen to the three songs below, and you'll catch my point... :

Paperback bible (mp3)

Beers before the barbican (mp3)

The decline of country and western civilization (mp3)

In addition, here's a live version of "Up with people" (mp3)

You can buy the record here

Next week's album of the week : Because of the times - Kings Of Leon

Lazy Monday : CocoRosie

My kids have a playhouse with animals that can be put on or off a button which produces the sound of the animal. I can't find the exact name of the toy nor a picture of it. I'll try to post a picture one of these days, and if someone recognizes it, post a comment please...
It's square with a house (barn) on it, and it has nine animals : (top to bottom, left to right) chicken, cat, bird, horse, dog, male goat (sorry, don't know the english word for it...), pig, cow and duck. It has been produced by Chicco.
I was surprised to hear exactly that sound of a cat on a CocoRosie song, from their album Noah's Ark.
Chicco have produced a toy with animal sounds called Noah's Ark, but as I don't see a cat on it, I don't think CocoRosie used THAT toy...

Bear hides and buffalo (mp3)

Buy the album here

Preparing for Pukkelpop Festival (3)

One of the bands that I definitely want to see at the festival, is Sophia. Ever since their debut, Fixed water, I have really enjoyed this band of Robin Proper-Sheppard, former lead singer of The God Machine.

Oh my love (mp3) (from People are like seasons)

When you're sad (mp3) (from Fixed water)

Ship in the sand (live) (mp3) (from De Nachten)

You can buy Sophia records here

Snow Patrol vs The Police

This mashup has been on the internet for quite a while now, but it wasn't till today that I was informed (thank you, Lieve !)... Someone even took the trouble of mashing up a video for it too...


Here's Snow Patrol vs The Police :

Every car you chase (mp3)

And here's the original song by Snow Patrol :

Chasing cars (mp3)

You can buy Snow Patrol records here
You can buy The Police records here

Preparing for Pukkelpop Festival (2)

Today, we'll feature the dubstep stars of Various. This UK based band will play some festivals this summer (currently 4 : Roskilde, Lethargy Festival, Pukkelpop and Lowlands), and I wouldn't wanna miss them, since I totally dig their album "The world is gone".

Enjoy these tracks :

Hater - Various (mp3)
The world is gone - Various (mp3)


Buy their record here

New Chemical Brothers album

The Chemical Brothers are about to release their seventh album (if you include the mix album Brothers gonna work it out) : We are the night.
Having heard the songs (which you can do too, right here... for an undefined but limited period), it's clear that they have once again succeeded in remaining relevant to contemporary dance music. In fact, only The salmon dance, featuring Fatlip, is a disappointing song. Their collaborations with The Klaxons and Midlake (really surprisingly good song there...) bring us some of their finest tunes, but the absolute best song on the album is the first single, Do it again, featuring Ali Love. The beats are simple but force you onto the dancefloor, and the lyrics, well, they're no better than the lyrics to Hey boy, hey girl, but it works (in some strange, inexplicable way).


Enjoy :


Do it again - The Chemical Brothers featuring Ali Love (mp3)


Pre-order the album here

RMX : I don't like the drugs (but the drugs like me) - Marilyn Manson

I don't exactly like Marilyn Manson that much. Most of his songs go one ear in, the other one out, but some can grasp my attention for a bit longer. Real great songs by this artist haven't reached my yet, but some are OK...
I don't like the drugs (but the drugs like me) is one of those songs which are quite OK, and which I actually enjoy listening to.
I do appreciate the way Marilyn Manson tries to get something across with all he is (you might want to read this blog post), but I really feel he could do more with the music he makes...

Danny Saber, a former band member of Happy Mondays follow-up band Black Grape, has become famous for his remixes for Madonna, David Bowie, Korn, Busta Rhymes,...

Enjoy this remix :

I don't like the drugs (but the drugs like me) - Danny Saber remix - Marilyn Manson (mp3)

Buy Marilyn Manson albums here

Album of the week : Blowback - Tricky

In 2001 Tricky released Blowback, an album on which he collaberated with various artists, such as Alanis Morissette, Ed Kowalczyk (from Live), Anthony Kiedis, John Frusciante and Flea (all Red Hot Chili Peppers), Cyndi Lauper,...

The result was an album which once again showed what Tricky is capable of. The powerful songs strike you in the face, though I have to admit the album starts stronger than it ends...

Enjoy these songs :

Excess (with Alanis Morissette) (mp3)

Evolution revolution love (with Ed Kowalczyk) (mp3)

Something in the way (Nirvana cover) (mp3)

Buy the record here

Next week's album of the week : Damaged - Lambchop

Big in Belgium : Sioen / Milow

Two bands from Belgium today :



Sioen is the band of 28 year old Frederik Sioen, a guy from my hometown (yes, once again !), that has released its third album, A potion. You can listen to some of their songs here.



Milow is a singer-songwriter, whose debut The bigger picture has been released in January of last year, but only recently has he risen to some (local) fame with the beautiful single which you'll find below...



This is a song from Sioen's debut album, See you naked,
Cruisin' (mp3)


This is the biggest hit so far for Milow :
You don't know (mp3)


Buy Sioen records here
Buy Milow's debut here